Thursday, August 14, 2008

Get a life!

Today I saw someone on the street corner holding a sign that said:

"I am a World War II vet who got the purple shaft."

This sign was warning people to beware... BEWARE Long Realty.

...

Long Realty. Realty. The weird thing is, this is the second time I've seen someone holding such a sign.

I haven't looked it up, but I can't imagine anybody so wronged by a company that sells houses that it's worth their time to stand on the corner all day, in 100 degree weather, holding up a sign. Sure, I understand if you think you've got an important message, and if you want to get the message out you put a sign up somewhere traffic can see it. But actually standing there, all day in the heat, just so you can tell the handful of people who bother to look "Watch out! Those realters have it out for you!"

...

Ok, I would be remiss if I didn't at least look this up and see what all the fuss is about. So I did. A quick google search for "beware long realty" reveals that some idiot did a bunch of dumb stuff like sign blank contract documents and not get copies of signed documents when buying a house. See http://bewareoflongrealtycompany.wetpaint.com/ for more details of this family's plight.

Perhaps Long Realty is a bunch of scam artists, or perhaps there was just a single con man that happens to work there, or that pretends to work there, or perhaps these people are simply retarded and want to blame the fact that they did something stupid on the fact that other people are malicious and not on the fact that they failed to behave in a reasonable and responsible manner.

Who the hell signs documents for loans and to buy a house (for over $100,000) without keeping copies of everything? Who the hell sticks with a realtor who won't give them copies? Who the hell thinks it's smart to sign blank documents?

Here's a chance for you to call me a hypocrite - a few years ago I made a mistake. I had been thinking that refinancing my house might be a good idea, since interest rates had plummeted since I'd purchased it. With better timing I could have dropped my interest rate a whole 3%, but I never got around to it. Then I got a phone call - one of those telemarketing calls which try to sell you something you're not usually looking to buy. I hate telemarketers, because if I wanted a subscription to a newspaper, I'd go get one. But in this case they called offering to refinance my home loan, and it so happened I wanted to do just that - so I did.

I was soooo proud of myself, too. As soon as I was done I went to tell my Dad what a smart thing I did. I was all smiles... until Dad started asking questions I didn't have good answers to. I was naive, and had paid something like $3000 extra in costs and fees which were ridiculous. I had basically gotten a really bad deal. I was the ideal target for these telemarketers, because I didn't know what I was doing.

Fortunately for me, my Dad does know what he's doing. He was able to help me reverse my bad decision (you can do that - you have 3 days to reverse it or something like that), and get my house refinanced properly, through the same lender I'd used originally, for a much better deal. While I was happy about all that, I felt like a complete idiot for being so dumb in the first place.

That story represents maybe the single stupidest thing I've ever done, financially anyway. I never felt any need to stand on the street and shout at the top of my lungs how sour the business practices were of whatever the hell company called me up and offered me a bad deal. And I sure as hell didn't do anything without getting copies of the documents.

I think those people on the street corner waving signs need to go get a life!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seth Jaffee-

What Wisdom… You possess?

Seth Jaffee said...

The funny thing is that I think I know who posted that comment...

Anonymous said...

What a geniuses!

Anonymous said...

If you think you know who posted that comment, why don’t you share that piece of information with the rest of us?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Seth, was that question to difficult for you to answer?

Seth Jaffee said...

Patience, I don't usually "converse" in blog comments because most people don't seem to read the comments in the first place, let alone check back for replies!

Seth Jaffee said...

P.S. Deleted comment above is because I was hasty and inadvertently published the same comment twice. Oops!

Anonymous said...

Seth-
I wondered why a disinterested person would take the time to write such a ridiculous article. I think that question was answered today when you were driving out of Long Realty’s parking lot.

Shalom..
Ella

Seth Jaffee said...

How funny! I guess more people read my little blog than I thought. The thought amuses me that Ella would know who I was pulling out of a Long Realty parking lot, even if it were true.

And as for my ridiculous article, maybe I just like to hear myself talk. Lucky for me, that's what a blog is for!